


Infinite < One

by Jiemme



Category: Subarashiki Kono Sekai | The World Ends With You
Genre: Friendship/Love, Light Angst, Multi, Parallel Universes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-10-26
Updated: 2015-01-03
Packaged: 2018-02-22 16:34:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,552
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2514521
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jiemme/pseuds/Jiemme
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Infinite realms. One boy."</p><p>In his spare time, Joshua visits Neku.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. #404

**Author's Note:**

> This will probably just be a bunch of drabbles of Joshua visiting different Nekus. Oh, well, versatility!
> 
> Blame the 'Another Day' chapter for this.

Joshua peeked from behind the door. He was invisible, of course, but he always urged himself to play detective every once in a while.

He grinned in fascination.

This Neku was a genius.

His room was small, but it reflected his massive intellect. There were posters of scientific diagrams, location maps, and mathematical formulas taped on the walls. Near the room’s window was a low shelf holding shiny trophies or medals and pictures. He also had an office table with a desktop computer on standby and Calculus books stacked above Physics books.

At the moment, this Neku was on his bed with papers sprawled all over and thick books wide open in front of him. Joshua slowly crept inside and sat beside Neku, unsurprised with the lack of acknowledgement. He wanted to reveal himself to see what kind of expression this Neku would pull, but this Neku had his own Joshua. They were, judging from one of the pictures on his shelf, partners in science contests and close friends.

“This just doesn’t make any sense. I’m pretty damn sure that Mr. Kitaniji forgot to give us the values needed for this problem,” he heard this Neku mumble. “Josh was right. Sho would make a better teacher than Shades.”

Joshua sighed. It wasn’t every day that he encountered this kind of brain in Neku’s body (who openly admired and acknowledged the genius of this reality’s Joshua). It was kind of attractive, to say the least, but this wasn’t the Neku he knew.

“Fuck this, I’m going to Ramen Don.”

At least this Neku had the same stubbornness he was familiar with.

He moved his hands around the bed, patting it in search for his phone. Once he found it, he quickly hopped off his bed and flipped it open.

“Hey, yeah? Hm. Yeah. Homework doesn’t make sense. I know. Now I see why you don’t like Kitani–yeah. Wanna meet at Ramen Don? Okay, see ya there, Josh.”

Joshua didn’t bother to follow him out. He didn’t like the feeling of envy.


	2. #210

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Late update, yes, but it's longer! 
> 
> This is my Christmas present to those who read this. Merry Christmas! :D
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own the mentioned videogames in this chapter and even the videogame of this fanfic's fandom.

One of Joshua’s favorite Nekus was the gamer that had a part time job in WildKat. He was almost like his realm’s Neku. Almost. He had the brooding teenager vibe with a matching scowl and hatred for trends in Shibuya. He managed to have two friends, however. One was Sanae (who he owed his thanks for his savings and for being his understanding boss) and the other was a boy with chocolate brown hair in messy spikes.

Apparently, the Joshua in gamer-Neku’s reality was a distant admirer. He took advantage of this Neku’s obliviousness towards his so-called affections. He also happened to know Sanae, but their interactions were limited to acquaintanceship. That didn’t necessarily mean, however, that Sanae wasn’t aware of this Joshua’s little hobby.

 Joshua could only giggle about this. He knew Neku was an interesting study regardless of which reality he came from, so he couldn’t blame this Joshua.

Their encounter was one of the most memorable.

He knew this Sanae was an Angel, so he down-tuned his frequency yet again to get in the shop posing as this reality’s Joshua.

“Come on in,” greeted Sanae, who gave him a knowing look. Joshua shrugged and walked over to the counter to be greeted by Neku.

“Hey, welcome back,” said gamer-Neku. “The usual?”

 _Usual, huh?_ How often did this dimension’s Joshua visit WildKat?

“Yes, please.”

Neku hummed to himself as he inputted numbers on the cash register. Joshua readily paid him two thousand yen and told Neku to keep the change as a tip. This Neku looked unfazed. Maybe this reality’s Joshua gave Neku a lot of tips.

“You should take a seat. It’ll take a while. Mr. H just took out the fresh bag of beans,” he told Joshua.

The ash-blond haired boy complied and waited, tapping his fingers in a backbeat accentuation. A few minutes after, Neku’s second friend, a boy named Sora, came in with a wide grin and a portable game console. The brunet gushed about a new horror videogame that he was a hundred percent sure gamer-Neku would like, and Joshua listened to this Neku strike up a conversation with complete enthusiasm.

“I mean, come on. This is just like Dangan Ronpa, but with action! And no creepy bears!” Sora exclaimed. It was a good thing Joshua was the only customer at the moment since the boy was too loud for any normal person to tolerate.

“Watch it,” Neku retorted. “Creepy or not, Monokuma is a fine character. And Dangan Ronpa’s a damn good game with killing. It doesn’t need to be revamped Silent Hill style to be awesome.”

That Sora boy gave a pout. “But Neku!”

Neku chuckled – a bit louder than how other Nekus did usually, at least in Joshua’s opinion – and looked at Sora with a raised brow. “I’m going to get that game, okay? I’m just sayin’ you shouldn’t bash Dangan Ronpa.”

“I’m not bashing it,” the other boy replied. “I’m just saying that the new game is like it, but with action!”

Joshua found it hard to keep pretending he was texting someone on his phone. He could, but what was the point if he knew no one would be interesting enough to maintain a decent conversation? He flipped his phone shut, and up, shut, and up again, getting bored of someone distracting this realm’s Neku about some silly old game.

They should have talked about cuisine. Now that would be more interesting.

“Hey, Spikes, I appreciate you keepin’ Neku preoccupied and everything, but I gotta borrow him for a while,” Sanae called out from the back.

His order was ready.

Neku shrugged and walked to the kitchen at the back while Sora took a seat five feet away from Joshua. He could swear he felt the stranger’s gaze was on him. It wasn’t long before he heard sounds that probably came from the portable game console.

Joshua spotted the oh-so familiar violet headphones and its wearer emerge again, the boy carrying two trays of this realm’s Joshua’s _usual_ order.

Spot on, Joshua thought. The order was exactly the first one he made in Sanae’s café in their world.

Joshua had no idea whether the next thing that happened was caused by Sora dropping something on the floor or by some divine intervention by Sanae, because Neku suddenly tripped with a loud yelp when he was only inches away from Joshua.

In a way, Joshua knew it was Sanae’s doing. The coffee cup fell on the floor right-side up, unbroken with no single drop of coffee spilt on the floor, and the sandwiches flew miraculously on his table and stopped right at the center. His dessert, though, a mix of glorious chocolates in one slice of cheesecake, landed right on his face.

“Oh my!” Sora screeched. “Neku, you’re in trouble!”

Joshua almost licked the parts of the cheesecake that landed on his lips, but he felt a piece of cloth on his cheek. The weight of the cake left his face, and a hand behind a handkerchief started cleaning his face.

“H-hey, sorry ‘bout that.”

No, Joshua was pretty sure his face was being caressed.

Or he could dream that it was being caressed.

He waited for Neku to finish removing smudges of chocolate on his face before answering. “My, that cake went to waste.”

Neku sighed. “It’s my fault, I admit it.”

Joshua wanted to say something that would rile up Neku in such a delicious way, but he remembered. There was a Joshua for this Neku.

“Let’s not speak of this again the next time we encounter,” he simply said with a smile.

He could see the look of relief in this Neku’s face. And… was the corner of his lip curling upwards?

“Sure. Thanks. I’m really sorry, though.”

Neku bought Joshua two slices of the glorious chocolate cheesecake afterwards.

\--

Oh, how Joshua missed that Neku. He wondered what kind of relationship did that Neku and his realm’s Joshua blossom into. That is, if Sora allowed Neku to pay attention to someone else.


	3. #129

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finding the TWEWY remix soundtrack + replaying TWEWY Week 2 Day 3 = plot bunny
> 
> (if you haven't listened to the TWEWY remix soundtrack yet, it's on YouTube :D awesome stuff)
> 
> And Happy New Year, guys! :D

“C’man, Neku. Y’gotta get me in that party!”

Joshua sighed a little louder than usual. It was no problem at all, being invisible from the mortal eye and whatnot. Disappointment crept on his skin as he watched Beat of this realm kneel in front of Neku at such a public place. Unbelievable.

All for Eiji Oji’s party.

Neku’s neutral expression faltered into an unyielding snarl. He pulled his companion up immediately, wincing at Beat’s meatier weight, and hit him on the shoulder with a loud smack. Some people exiting Ramen Don glanced at them with curiosity, others with revulsion. Neku hated this kind of attention, so he quickly pulled Beat in the shop. The latter let out yelps of confusion, earning even more looks.

Joshua followed, slightly humored.

Ken Doi welcomed the boys with open arms, proclaiming he readied Beat’s favorite curry ramen the very moment he spotted the two boys outside his shop. Although unfazed by the fact that he wasn’t greeted by the plucky cook, Joshua felt a pang of displeasure that he couldn’t order any ramen today.

The two boys sat close to the shop’s window. Neku was obviously disgruntled, but Beat was too oblivious to it, distracted by the scent of mixed spices and smoke.

“Beat.”

He gathered both Beat’s and Joshua’s attentions.

“I… look. I don’t know if I could get you in the party,” he said. He held no look of sympathy nor did his voice tremble in regret. Neku placed his hands on the table, fingers interlaced to signify he meant business.

Beat closed his eyes slowly and pouted. “B-but you’s the DJ, Phones. You gotta get me in. Please?”

Much to Joshua’s surprise, this Neku chuckled and smirked. “It’s because that Misaki girl is going, right?”

Who would have thought?

Well, Joshua was open minded enough. And seeing as other dimensions had the tendency to change things…

He stifled a giggle. Seeing Beat’s face turn beet red was something to behold.

“I-uh-w… y’kno-mmm… ahh…” the skater stammered. Even Neku had his hand over his mouth, although he was failing at his attempt to stay serious. His other hand landed gently on Beat’s shoulder and patted it a few times.

“Man, I’m not dumb. I’ve seen the way you look at her,” Neku teased. “And it’s pretty obvious, seeing as we end up skating to 104 ever since you found out she worked at some shop there.”

Oh, if only his Neku teased other people the way this Neku did. Joshua could get along swimmingly with this boy.

“I’m going to text Makoto if I could bring a guest, okay? Since I’m the DJ, after all,” Neku continued, giving his friend a wink. Beat’s face retained its rosy shade, but he looked relieved at the same time.

“You the best, Neku. And you’re lucky too. Can’t believe you got the chance to DJ the biggest party in Shibuya yet! And y’aint even workin’ in a records store,” Beat said in glee. His grin was wide enough to put the Cheshire cat to shame.

Neku, meanwhile, frowned again. “Don’t remind me. I’m pretty pressured about it, to be honest.”

Wow, a Neku that actually opened his feelings to someone without being forced to.

“Ah, ‘tis 'cause of Kiryu, huh?”

Joshua’s eyes widened. Why was the Joshua of this dimension referred to that way?

“Yeah,” Neku groaned, slumping downwards on his seat. He adjusted his headphones and looked at the counter of the shop, sighing again. “That damn blogger just… scares me. I’m not one for keeping up reputations, but this DJ gig is my big break into the music industry! And if I screw up later, I won’t be able to DJ again… ugh, fuck.” He buried his face in his hands in frustration.

It was Beat’s turn to comfort Neku. “Chillax, man. Knowing Kiryu’s blog, he’s prolly gonna judge the food, not you.”

Joshua nodded. Although his intentions for Shibuya mainly involved maintaining its dynamic symphony, cuisine piqued his interest even more due to the variety of flavors that could satisfy his high standard tastes. Food was, in a sense, a match for music.

“C’man. The Neku I know wouldn’t let some silly blog let ‘im down. And if Kiryu blogs some shit about you, Futoshi and I’s gonna hack ‘im.”

Neku smirked. “You’re right. But I’m warning you – I’m still a better hacker.”

“What’s this about hacking, boys?” came Ken Doi’s voice. Both Neku and Beat quickly fixed their sitting positions and gave docile smiles.

“It’s nothin’, man,” Beat dismissed the topic. The older man raised a brow, but Neku and Beat were too hardy to get intimidated.

Joshua wondered if there was a nearby internet café somewhere in Dogenzaka. There were some mysteries that needed to be solved, and that was a good enough reason for him to hang out in this dimension.

At least if the Sanae of his realm tried reprimanding him for ignoring his calls, he had a legitimate reason behind it.

\--

It took Joshua four hours to skim through this realm’s Joshua’s blog. Apparently, he was famously anonymous. ‘Kiryu’ (Joshua wondered why he didn’t bother to find a fancier and more appropriate blog name) was a well-renowned critic of anything popular in Shibuya. His words were harshly sharp and on-the-spot descriptive, evoking images and aromas with every detail given.

Beat was right too. Most of Kiryu’s blog posts were food-centric.

He fought himself for a while after the internet café closed, contemplating whether he should attend the biggest party of the year to watch this Neku fulfill his dream of being a DJ. He knew that his Neku was attached to music – his headphones tell it all. But being a DJ wasn’t even on his side of the coin. If anything, the Beat of his realm would have been a more convincing DJ.

In the end, Joshua retreated to his own dimension and rested for a while. He planned to return to that realm tomorrow to see what ‘Kiryu’ had in store for that Neku.

­--

Joshua found it awkward to find Rhyme in the cubicle next to his in the internet shop the next day. Awkward, because she was playing some online role playing game that made him wonder how she learned about those. The game looked cute and safe for work, though, so Joshua moved on with his thoughts.

And he found himself smiling at the new blog post.

‘Kiryu’ posted a picture of Neku, a hand on his headphones, the other raised in the air, a grin on his face, and a spotlight on him. He looked genuinely overjoyed, a sight that could melt Joshua’s heart any day.

As expected, ‘Kiryu’ praised Neku for his _breathtaking performance of fusing vibrant tunes with springy beats that left the crowd in a dancing frenzy begging for more._ A part of him regretted not attending, but he already knew what kind of music Neku could bring in a scene.

Of course, he had to read about the food served first before checking out WildKat. ‘Kiryu’ implied he had a meeting with someone who made him interested in music. And knowing himself in any universe, he’d pick that little café with a large personality.

**Author's Note:**

> Longer chapters next time, promise. Thanks for reading! :D


End file.
